The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-05-12
BILL NYE AND THE DEADnEAD
How Tho siseping.Cars md Eating.Housc,
View tho Railroad Law, "

FEWER people seeu TO be travelling 10
the delirious Joy Of travelling this year thai
ever before in the history Of the country
Eating.houaeu, dining-cars, sleeping.car
and hotels seem TO suffer most. A few
days ago had the pleasure Of riding from
St. Paul to Chicago, and from Chicago te
New York, over one OF tho most tiuenl
railway lines in each instance, and coulG
not Bhut my eyes to the fact that the new
Interstate Commerce law has made q
difference. From Cleveland to Buffalo i
rode In special car. It was the specis
sleeping-car Aberdeen, occupied by mysel
and quite. l had o conductor, a porter
and brakeman TO do my bidding, and
the whole car was mine-mine alone, Il
was pleasant at first, but finally 1t seemed
lonely, 80 l called the porter and engaged
him in conversation. He said that It had
been that way a good deal during the
month Of April. One day, he said that he
and Bpotter sat and glared at each other
all the way from Elkhart, Ind, to syria.
cuse, N. Y. He told me that 1t was time
for memory aud Tor tears. Sleeping.cars,
he stated. nave been for years the hot-hed
OF tho annual pass. It Is for that reason
that sleeper after sleeper is being side
tracked. Ho was bright, intelligent
young man, with clear, olive.oil com
plexion, and when left him wrung out
his hand for him and gave him small
piece OF money which hope he will ex.
pend wisely. -.6I
I also converaed with the train.boy,
sometimes coarsely and incorrectly called
"tho peanutter." He came into nv
special car to afford me IN opportunity to
speculate in box Of choice figs and an
4rmtul Of paper-covered pronouus, in
GLIDING u, j" "rhou," "He," "Me," ""She"
and ut" He heaved a sigh whom l
spoke Of the new law, and sitting down
beside me he looked sadly in my open, in.
genuous face, while he rested nine or ten
dollars worth Of books on my knee.
"Yes," he said, inserting soiled thumb
in the corner Of his eye in search Of a Gin.
der, lit is an Erie Of financial depression.
People that pay their fare bring their din.
uer, ride in the day coach, and sleep with
their mouthn open. They buy nuthin',
in fact, nobody travels now unless it ia a
case Of life and death. Then they take q
hasd-boiled egg and blanket and borrow
the papers. And now see some eardine
from Snaggsville says that under the inter-
state commerce law A peanutter really has
40 tigGs 10 flGu!.es aly more than any
body else, not being railroad employee!
I am tired of 1t. can sit here and see
my figs grow old on my hands. just look
at the lines OF care on that box of figs!
Two weeks ago had to take all the prizes
out Of my candy packages, and sell 'em
for what could get. You noticed didn't
90 through the cars to-day putting fresh
pecan nut in everybody's lap2 That's
because / can't afford it. The injustice
and clean.cut cussednees of this new law
ID invading every home and desolating
every hearthstone In the land. Lemms
sell you The Girl Datective; or, Hunted
to halifax and Back Again Without Feed
Blue Pill" =
Then the train.conductor came along,
dreamily punched my ticket, and asked
me II I wanted my dinner at Buffalo.
said did, 81
"Then there arc two of you to dine
there today" he said, for there is another
man in the next to the last sleeper who
will join you in the dining hall. Gener-
ally there are six tables full on this train
for the eating house at Buffalo. To-day
there are two men on the whole train who
will dine there, and there is no profit in
either Of them, for tho other man is even
! more gaunt than you are." 5jT is
"To what do. you attribute thia?"
asked in a quiet, grammatical manner
which put him at once at his ease.
"Oh, it is the new announcement com.
merce. law. Go Einto the dining room ut
Buffalo and you will see about twenty
walters, cooks and clerks and two guests
at the table, counting yourself, while no
doubt an old gentleman will take a 'stand
up" at the lunch ::countei consisting OF a
cup Of coffee, for which he pays ten cents,
and q doaghnu., which he brings from
home in his pocket and which has little
flakes Of smoking tobacco on it. An eat
ing-house man from the West rode through
here yesterday on an old and totteriDg
ecalpor's ticket, and he said that within
thirty dsyB he had been compelled to
mortgage his house to the head cook, and
the barkeeper had & chattel mortgage on
the billiard tables and fixtures. He
claimed that the lie Of on clearinghouse
man was anything but happy, anyhow,
and now 1t WAS great big wicked world,
"'Formerly,' he said, people came and
ate, kicked about the price, and went
away. Now they stay at home.'"
"But what do you think is going to be
the ultimate effect Of tits law ?" asked
in an Evolutionary tone ofsvoice.
"Why, I don't believe that in yea,
from now there will be enough Of it Ief.
to wad gun. Ignorant people think that
as the law ia obnoxious to tho railroads il
ought to be- a big thing for the people, bu
that is not always the case. And look al
the inconsistency Of the thing, Years age
Congress gave big grants to the railroads
! to build their lines into new and uude
veloped territory west. Now the wes
has got to move east and grow up with tht
country" 3Ss Il.
! I do not yet know exactly what course
to pursue, but there will be meeting fol
| the purpose Of taking some definite actor
in the matter here in New York this week
The meeting will be largely attended b,
tho railway eating. house men, the theatri
cal and travelling men, the sleeping ant
dining-car people, and myself. "a
BILL NYE.